The Louvre Museum in Paris, renowned for its iconic glass pyramid and priceless art, has been thrust into the international spotlight for reasons far less celebratory: a daring daylight jewel heist that saw treasures worth $102 million vanish in under eight minutes. As of November 1, 2025, French authorities have charged four suspects, including a woman and a man arrested this week, as the investigation races to recover the missing crown jewels and piece together how such a brazen theft could unfold at the world’s most-visited museum.
According to the Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau, the latest suspects—a 37-year-old man and a 38-year-old woman—were formally charged and remanded in custody on Saturday, three days after their arrest on October 29. The man, already known to authorities for previous thefts, faces charges of organized theft and criminal conspiracy. The woman, reportedly from the northern Paris suburb of La Courneuve, was charged with complicity in organized theft and criminal conspiracy. Both steadfastly deny any involvement in the heist, as reported by Reuters and AP.
“She is devastated,” her lawyer Adrien Sorrentino told reporters, describing his client as bewildered by the accusations and deeply fearful for her children and herself. “She does not understand how she is implicated in any of the elements she is accused of.” Prosecutors justified her continued detention on grounds of a “risk of collusion” and “disturbance of public order,” according to France 24.
The arrests this week bring the total number of charged suspects to four. The initial two suspects, men aged 34 and 39 from the working-class suburb of Aubervilliers, were taken into custody earlier and have partially admitted their involvement, prosecutors confirmed. One, a 34-year-old Algerian national living in France since 2010, was caught by police as he attempted to board a flight to Algeria at Charles de Gaulle Airport. DNA traces linked him to one of the scooters used in the getaway. The other, a 39-year-old unlicensed taxi driver, was apprehended near his home. Both men were already known to law enforcement for previous theft offenses, according to statements from the prosecutor’s office and France 24.
The dramatic theft itself unfolded on October 19, 2025, when a team of four robbers used a freight lift truck—sometimes described as a movers' lift—to access a second-floor window of the Louvre’s Apollo Gallery. In a meticulously coordinated operation lasting less than eight minutes, two of the thieves forced a window, then used disc cutters and power tools to smash open two display cases. The haul included a diamond-and-emerald necklace given by Napoleon I to Empress Marie-Louise, jewels tied to 19th-century Queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense, and Empress Eugénie’s pearl-and-diamond tiara, as well as a diadem dotted with nearly 2,000 diamonds. In their haste, the thieves dropped a diamond- and emerald-studded crown that once belonged to Empress Eugénie, but made off with eight other pieces, AP and France 24 reported.
The gang’s escape was equally audacious: they fled on two scooters toward eastern Paris, barely evading a near-simultaneous response from museum security and police. This rapid reaction prevented the thieves from torching the lift and destroying crucial evidence, a move investigators believe was part of their original plan. “Only the near-simultaneous arrival of police and museum security stopped the thieves from torching the lift and destroying crucial evidence,” Beccuau explained to AP.
Despite the quick arrests and intensive investigation, the stolen jewels remain missing. Authorities have not recovered a single piece as of November 1, 2025. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez, however, remains optimistic. “I remain confident that we will be able to find them,” he told Le Parisien, as cited by France 24. The investigation has mobilized approximately 100 investigators working seven days a week. So far, 150 forensic samples have been analyzed and 189 items sealed as evidence, underscoring the scale and urgency of the probe, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office.
While speculation has swirled about possible insider assistance, investigators say there is no sign of insider help at this stage, though they are not ruling out the involvement of a wider network beyond the four suspects captured on security footage. The prosecutor’s office, citing France’s strict “secret d’instruction” laws designed to protect the integrity of ongoing investigations and victims’ privacy, has released few details about the suspects, and only the prosecutor is authorized to speak publicly about developments.
The heist has also exposed embarrassing security flaws at the Louvre, a museum that attracts millions of visitors each year. French and international media have questioned how such valuable jewels, with deep historical ties to France’s imperial and royal past, could be snatched so swiftly in broad daylight. The Apollo Gallery, home to the stolen items, is one of the Louvre’s most celebrated spaces, known for its ornate decor and priceless treasures. The incident has prompted renewed scrutiny of the museum’s security protocols and the broader challenges of protecting national heritage in an era of increasingly sophisticated organized crime.
Notably, some legal representatives have criticized the breadth of the police response. Sofia Bougrine, a lawyer for one of the individuals arrested and later released, likened the wave of arrests to “drift nets,” suggesting that investigators cast a wide net in their search for suspects. “In these serious crime cases, we find that waves of arrests look more like drift nets,” she told AFP, reflecting concerns about due process and the presumption of innocence.
The Louvre case is not the only high-profile theft to rock France in recent weeks. On October 30, 2025, six people were arrested following a violent robbery at a gold refining laboratory in Lyon, during which thieves used explosives. Unlike the Louvre heist, the loot—worth 12 million euros (about $13.9 million)—was recovered, according to Interior Minister Nunez’s statement on X (formerly Twitter).
As the investigation continues, the world watches with bated breath to see whether the missing jewels—steeped in history and symbolism—will resurface. For now, the audacious Louvre heist remains a stark reminder of both the enduring allure and vulnerability of the world’s great cultural treasures.
